UPDATE: St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby tells KMOX News, the fire spread very quickly, within moments of firefighters arriving, "I don't even want to say within a few minutes. What started as a small fire on the southeast portion of the building on the second floor just quickly spread to the entire floor."
According to St. Louis City records, the property, along with several other buildings on North 7th Street are owned by Northside Regeneration LLC. That's the name of the company Paul McKee operates.
As to the cause of the fire, the damage is so extensive it might never be known. But Mosby said, there is concern "how quickly the fire advanced and the time of day." So many people were out in the area and normally, someone would call 911, and firefighters arrive before it gets out of hand. Another concern, there were no utilities on in the building.
Firefighters worked well into late Sunday morning putting out hot spots.
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Shortly after 8:00 Saturday night, St. Louis Firefighters received a call for smoke in the building at North 7th Street and O'Fallon, just north of Downtown St. Louis.
The black smoke could be seen for miles, people reported smelling the smoke all the way into South St. Louis. And St. Louis City SC fans were tweeting pictures of the black billowing smoke.
Eight-five firefighters battled the 3-alarm fire for some time. There were no injuries reported
